OCT. WIDGEON BREED IN SCOTLAND. 23 



has no doubt a pair or two, probably wounded birds, 

 remain about some of the unfrequented lochs and 

 breed, as he says that he has occasionally seen 

 widgeon in summer in one or two places in the 

 neighbourhood, but that this is rare. As my' 

 informant has a very accurate acquaintance with 

 most birds, I believe his account to be correct. The 

 widgeon that I saw on the 8th of September had 

 very much the appearance of a brood which had 

 been hatched near at hand, one of the birds not 

 having arrived at that fulness and hardness of plu- 

 mage that would enable it to have made a long 

 aerial voyage. In Sutherland they breed. every year. 



I have a long walk before me, and bright as an 

 October day is, the sun does not give us many hours 

 of his company, but seems to be in a great hurry 

 to hide his glorious head behind the snowy peaks 

 of Inverness-shire. 



In crossing the sands of the bay in order to arrive 

 at the neck of sandy ground that divides it from the 

 main sea, there are many runs of water to be waded, 

 some caused by the river itself, which branches out 

 into numerous small streams which intersect the 

 sands, and some made by two good-sized brooks 

 which empty themselves into the bay. In all these 

 streams there are innumerable flounders, large and 

 small, which dart as quick as lightning from under 



